An image is displayed on a big screen onstage of Best Actor nominee Bradley Cooper for his role in the film 'American Sniper' at the 87th Academy Awards Nominations Announcement at the AMPAS Samuel Goldwyn Theater on January 15, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images / AFP) / AFP

A top Arab-American civil rights organization linked anti-Islam sentiment in the US to the popularity of ‘American Sniper,’ while a friend of the Chapel Hill shooting victims blamed media for “constantly dehumanizing Muslims.”

Abed Ayoub, the legal director of the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee, told The Independent in the United
Kingdom that Islamophobia in the United States is encouraged by
US foreign policy, the movie industry, and right-wing media.

“[The North Carolina murders] may not be directly linked to
the film, but the overall way that Islamophobia and anti-Arab
sentiment are moving in this country is portrayed in the words of
those who watched American Sniper,” Ayoub said.

“The film gave us a look into how these individuals were
feeling and for the first time we were getting raw, real messages
– and they were frightening.”

American
Sniper is the largest-grossing January opening for a movie in
history. and is nominated for six Academy Awards, including best
picture.

Former navy SEAL Chris Kyle, on whose memoirs the movie is based,
wrote “I hate the damn savages. I couldn’t give a flying f**k
about the Iraqis.” He was killed by a former Marine at a
shooting range in Texas in 2013.

Ayoub also points to coverage of the Chapel Hill slayings, which
he sees as muted or altered based on the victims’ religion.

“This country needs to realise that acts of terrorism are not
confined to a single religion or ethnicity,” he added.
“This [Islamophobia] is something that needs to stop and we
would like the media to pay more attention and cover this more to
show the impact of hate crime and hate speech.”

How the government approaches Muslims, and how Muslims are
covered in the mainstream media must change, Ayoub said.

“There are key individuals who could tone down the
Islamophobic rhetoric,” he said. “You have people on the
extreme right that just push that Islam is an evil religion and
Muslims and Arabs are these evil people.

The murder
of three Muslim university students in Chapel Hill, North
Carolina on Tuesday was unlikely a religiously-motivated hate
crime, local police have
said, though they have vowed to investigate all possible
angles involved.

Murder suspect Craig Stephen Hicks was the neighbor of Deah
Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her
sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. Their conflict is said to
have stemmed from issues over parking outside their apartment
complex.

The victims’ family, however, disagreed with police, calling it a
clear “hate crime” and an “execution.”

Shafi Khan, a friend of the students, told CNN Wednesday that
some American media and right-wing politicians, including
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, intentionally fan flames of
anti-Muslim hatred.

“There is (sic) certain sections of the media and political
apparatus that are constantly dehumanizing Muslims,” he
said. “I want to take a minute to ask people like Fox News
and Bobby Jindal to stop this dehumanization of Muslims. It’s
really, really starting to take a toll.”

Jindal has repeatedly voiced discriminatory or outright bogus
claims about Muslims, most
recently when he said Muslims are trying to “conquer
us,” and that the US is at risk for Islamic Sharia law
“colonization” and “an invasion.”

Khan also
called out Oklahoma state senator John Bennett who called
Islam "a cancer that needs to be cut out of society."

“And the Republican Party establishment, instead of
condemning him, came out and made a point of saying they stand by
him,” Khan said.

“These people need to reflect sincerely about what they’re
doing to the social cohesion of this country. Imagine if someone
had said that about the Jewish community.”